GB Bars are Made In Australia :) Yippee!!!

[MCW]

Hi guys.
As you'd know there have been a number of posts and threads here and on other forums regarding the production of GB bars and which country they've been coming from. I have been involved in a number of these posts/threads and this has been ongoing for many years.
There have been some changes in the packaging and bar labelling over the last few years that have not really made sense from a marketing point of view. For example the "Made In Australia" name is a major selling point. It is no different to seeing "Made In Germany" or "Made In The USA" on a product - you know it will be good with the odd exception.
For some reason GB changed their labelling to simply "Australia" and it could be assumed that something had changed in their manufacturing process. There was no feedback from anybody at GB and the rumour mill started. The fact that Stens in the US were no longer the GB distributor there also added fuel to the fire.

Now I am man enough to admit that in one of the threads here I had a fair crack at Gregg the other day who is now the US GB distributor. I basically said that no proof existed on GB's manufacturing in Australia and it is fair to say that even some Australian chainsaw dealers with GB accounts were unsure of what was going on at GB.

No doubt Gregg contacted GB in Australia regarding my posts and all of a sudden Michael Kennedy who is the managing director of GB in Australia has joined AS and set the record straight in "The All Aussie Dribble Thread". He has offered me a tour of the GB Australian manufacturing plant which I unfortunately can't take on at this stage (being an 8 hour drive!) and has outlined exactly what is going on there. He set me straight on a number of things and I've never been happier to be proven wrong! I use GB Pro Tops and Ti bars regularly however everything I use is old stock - they are some of the best bars on the market and I have 24" and 32" Pro Tops here with around 500 hours on them which have a lot of life left in them yet. To hear that they are still being made in Australia is awesome!

Therefore...

The GB harvester bars, the GB Ti bars, and the GB Pro Tops are STILL being made in Australia. They have NEVER been made overseas!!!

Their consumer line of bars are not and are coming from China. This isn't uncommon and basically all consumer priced bars are now coming out of Asia with Stihl being the exception (there may be others?).

The fact that somebody from GB has finally had the time to respond to AS member's questions and concerns is great. I have always stated that I'd really like to be proven wrong on GB and I finally have been I'd like to apologise to Gregg but would also like to thank him for prompting somebody from GB to come in and set the record straight. I've quoted some of Michael's posts below which outlines a number of points.

This was Michael's response to a question about their packaging...

It's a funny question because the cover (sleeve) on the Ti and ProTops is the only part of it that was not made in Australia.
The sleeves have always been printed in China. Although the bearings are from Switzerland.

Swiss bearings explains why you can't bloody kill the nose on a Pro Top!!! I don't think anybody would complain about Swiss bearings being used.

This was the response to me regarding GB's harvester bars which I'd always been told were produced in Australia...

Thanks Matt, it's true in Australia here we are mainly focussed on harvester bars because that's where we can still compete. Also the extra long chainsaw bars, double ended mill bars, all Lucas Mill bars and any other specialist bars are a big part of the Aussie business. In Australia we're not too fussed about competing with the consumer range of bars because it simply isn't economical to do so. However, we do still have a good list of loyal dealers that keep the chainsaw side of it ticking along. As I explained to Gregg and as I will explain again here the cost of producing the Ti bars is quite prohibitive but if people are prepared to pay for the quality and if the margins are still there we will continue to do so. I cannot be any clearer than this - Ti & ProTop bars have never been made anywhere else but Australia.

Finally this was Michael's response to a web link from a Chinese company who said they had entered into a business relationship with GB a few years ago (Tom Beerens owns GB)...

Qirui Tools do not and will not make GB Arbor Series bars. These bars and noses are stock left over from a failed partnership between Tom Beerens and Wang Wei Ming (owner of Qirui Tools). They set up a company and factory together to make consumer bars and for whatever reason they had a falling out. Qirui got left holding the stock and Tom has set up his own factory in China where he has lived for the past 3 years or so. Qirui has been trying to offload these bars for quite some time now.

I hope Michael doesn't mind me quoting his posts here but I realised that not too many guys overseas would even know that there is an Australian based thread so may not see this information.

Good stuff Gregg with your new business and your customers can rest assured that if they buy a Ti bar or Pro Top it is definitely Made In Australia and that they'll be buying one of the best bars ever made with a nose sprocket that can't be killed!

 

[nmurph]

I bought an Arbor-Pro bar recently. I was excited bc in my mind it said "Made in Australia". I guess I'll have to take another looksie bc it probably just says "Australia". Honestly, it was late at night and I unboxed it, glanced at it, and threw in on the table.

 

[SawTroll]

Great that this finally was settled!

......
Their consumer line of bars are not and are coming from China. This isn't uncommon and basically all consumer priced bars are now coming out of Asia with Stihl being the exception (there may be others?).

......

Husky is another exception - at least the bars they make themselves (in Norway).

 

[Stihlman441]

Not forgetting the harvest and extra long bars are made over here as well.
I have always been fond of the Ti bars and its good to know there still being made here,but you dont see them about or for sale very often.
I have been running 2 20'' Ti bars for a very long time and they are very second hand but still going after 100s of hrs on um,replaced the sprocket noses on um once or twice.

 

[MCW]

Not forgetting the harvest and extra long bars are made over here as well

I mentioned the harvester bars and the extra long bars come under the Ti banner.
I've been stockpiling the older Pro Tops for my own personal use. Now I find out that it was a waste of time

 

[jczv]

I've been a fan of GB since a few years ago right around the time Stens dropped them in the US. I had bought a new 66" GB TI bar on eBay from a guy who had a bunch of larger bars he was selling off. I wanted to convert it from 404 to 3/8 but he didn't have any bar nose available and now Stens didn't either. I contacted some dealers in Australia but apparently shipping to the US was to big a hassle and they thought to expensive. I sent an e-mail to GB trying to find a new US dealer/distributor and explaining what I needed. A few days later I got a response (from Jeff Kennedy) that a 3/8 bar nose was in the mail. I sent back a thank you and to send me a bill or just tell me the cost and got back a response no charge. I always appreciated that a company would have customer service like that even at a time when they were struggling.

 

[7sleeper]

@MCW

are you trying to tell us something...



7

 

[MCW]

@MCW

are you trying to tell us something...



7

Hah hah. No actually because I don't even have a GB account. I can get GB at dealer cost though through a mate of mine who does have a GB account. I started this thread to set the record straight after the MD of GB showed up and filled us in.

 

[CR888]

Good to see you set the record straight Matt, it has been a bit of a wishy washy subject & l am so glad they are still being made in Australia. GB needs to clearly label its made in Australia as even myself who lives here thought they had gone down the China slide. What Stihlman says is a true testoment to the quality of their bars as alot of the species he cuts are 2,3,4 maybe 5 times the wieght and denseness of other woods around the globe. Our wood is tough on our gear and l for one am proud that we still make a top quality product that meets the requirments of an Aussie logger. l just wish the old fella at GB still made CS mills like they used to. And yes MCW l am quite aware that you have one..........you #+@&%!

 

[Flat47]

I'm running a 20" Arbor Pro (China) and a 24" Pro Top (Australia) and have absolutely no complaints with either. The fit and finish of the Pro Top looks better, but that could be my biased eye. The prices and shipping time from Left Coast Supply was awesome. I WILL be buying more. I got my first GB Pro Top 14 or 15 years ago from a semi-local shop and became a fan then. I'm really happy Left Coast is a GB dealer (thanks Gregg!) and despite some bars being from China, I respect GB more than Oregon who seems to be getting cheaper by the day.

Rant over.

 

[MCW]

I'm running a 20" Arbor Pro (China) and a 24" Pro Top (Australia) and have absolutely no complaints with either. The fit and finish of the Pro Top looks better, but that could be my biased eye. The prices and shipping time from Left Coast Supply was awesome. I WILL be buying more. I got my first GB Pro Top 14 or 15 years ago from a semi-local shop and became a fan then. I'm really happy Left Coast is a GB dealer (thanks Gregg!) and despite some bars being from China, I respect GB more than Oregon who seems to be getting cheaper by the day.

Rant over.

That's not a rant at all

 

[Flat47]

That's not a rant at all

Sarted out as "give credit where credit is due" and ended in "kick 'em while they're down." Didn't intend it - it just came out - but it's all true!

 

[wyk]

If you ask me, they've always been made overseas.

 

[Stihlman441]

This is what they used to look like

 

[MCW]

There have definitely been some past labeling issues however that have now been sorted. I have some cheaper GB bars here clearly marked with "Made In Australia" on the packaging when GB has now told us have been made overseas. The later packaging just has "Australia" on it. I wasn't going to bring this up to avoid any arguments but some of their past labeling hasn't always been accurate which added fuel to the fire at the time.

 

[Teddi]

I got a big order in from LCS last week. I knew the Pro Tops were made in Oz, no surprise threre. I was surprised to see that the sleeves for the ArborPros actually said that they were Made in Australia. I haven't used them yet, but they certainly appear to be of good quality, even if they are Hecho en Chine. Solid steel with swiss bearings on the sprockets. For $14 each, I couldn't go wrong.

 

[MCW]

I got a big order in from LCS last week. I knew the Pro Tops were made in Oz, no surprise threre. I was surprised to see that the sleeves for the ArborPros actually said that they were Made in Australia. I haven't used them yet, but they certainly appear to be of good quality, even if they are Hecho en Chine. Solid steel with swiss bearings on the sprockets. For $14 each, I couldn't go wrong.

The Arborpro and Arbortech bars I've used do seem to wear pretty quickly and definitely not Made In Australia despite the labeling.

 

[harrygrey382]

AWESOME news! Puts my mind at rest there is a good local competitor to stihl

 

[stihl sawing]

I have an older 28 inch GB pro top bar, it actually held up better than the stihl bar.

 

[MCW]

I have an older 28 inch GB pro top bar, it actually held up better than the stihl bar.

I'm a big fan of the Pro Tops. Personally I've never seen a benefit of running the more expensive Ti bars over the Pro Tops as under normal use they seem to wear the same. I've put 1000's of hours on both types and they're great bars.
If you ever have to drill a hole in a GB Ti bar though you soon realise that the Titanium labelling is no joke, these things are HARD.